News & Media Articles

Materials from the "research" of Im Tirzu

Materials from the "research" of Im Tirzu that can be a base for a libel suit:

The report is made of several sections:

1) Executive Summary

2) Two page introduction paved with distortions – see detail below

3) Analysis of the connection between the organizations and the Goldstone report and between NIF and the organizations. Here there are also a number of falsifications

4) Under the title "other organizations supported by NIF" quotes from the social TV

5) "NIF income sources" – no falsification

6) Analysis of the Goldstone report and of Goldstone's past – "Goldstone served on the Board of a number or organizations funded by the Ford Foundation – NIF's senior partner". List of the organizations: International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), PHR, Human Rights Watch and explanations about them.

7) "Foreign governments support to NIF's organizations"

8) Details of NIF's support to the organizations where the numbers relate to all the funds that were transferred to the organizations, including DA and Ford Foundation support– no significant falsification.

9) Statistical analysis of the sources of the Goldstone report and NIF's organizations' share among them – see detail

10) "Positive" activities of NIF like participation in Birthright and Kicking Racism out of Israeli soccer.

11) Quotes from the organizations' statements reflecting how they appear on the report and report of other activities of the organizations. This section does not include significant falsifications. However "New Profile" organization is mentioned here and elsewhere while it is not supported by NIF – see details

12) Further down there is a detail of the different references of the Goldstone report (1377) and different data about NIF (names of the Board members) and quotes about the "positive" activities of NIF.

About the New Israel Fund

Falsifications:

"According to research (by Dr Ran Baratz and Moshe Ifergan - U.A.) based on original NIF documents, the overarching goal of NIF is: turning Israel into a country for all its citizens" (page 6). Further down, there is a reference to this section (reference 13): "On 25.6.2009, Aharon Barak declared at the NIF Law Fellows conference, moderated by Naomi Chazan that he supports the creation of a country for all its citizens, http://www.nif.org.il/?id=1870 (23/12/09), this implying that NIF supports this statement".

"Analysis of the documents referring to NIF's support of the draft dodging movements brought them (the researchers – U. A.) to conclude that there is a need to expose that apparently one of the working assumptions of NIF is that weakening the IDF's military standing will facilitate the imposition of political agreements on Israel". (page 6)

On the connection between the Goldstone report and NIF's organizations

Falsifications:

" The operating method of the organizations is characterized by creating tens of "niche" organizations with a small number of activists. These organizations aim mainly to expose widely different aspects of the "IDF's crimes" on a variety of media channels" (Page 10)

"It is clear that unlimited financial resources (tens of millions of dollars a year!) enable these organizations, in spite of the limited number of activists, to operate with determination and boisterousness for long periods of time. NIF is the main funder of these organizations acting against Israel in this fashion" (Page 10). Note that further on, there is a detailed description of the organizations' income from NIF which amounts in three years to 7.8 million dollars – far away from "tens of millions a year".

"Those claims (of the Public Committee against Torture – U.A.) accusing the IDF and Israel of war crimes, serve apparently other organizations as a base for personal claims abroad against IDF officers and senior politicians such as the claims that were submitted in Europe against the Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Head of the Opposition – Tzipi Livni, the Minister for Strategic Affairs, Moshe Yaalon and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz (and as a base for calls for economic boycott of Israel) such as the Norwegian boycott of Israeli firms." (Page 10).

"The New Israel Fund supports other organizations which apparently are active against IDF policies and the State of Israel. For instance: NIF supported via Shatil the creation of the Social TV" on the internet" (Page 12)

3. Statistical analysis of the report

Im Tirzu's paper analyses 1377 sources (references) listed on the Goldstone report, 191 refer to NIF's organizations – that's 14%. The number quoted on the campaign by Im Tirzu (92%) is composed as follows: of the 1377 references, 450 are from Israeli sources (the other references are international, UN or Palestinian sources). Of the 450 references from Israeli sources, 61 are from the Israeli media, 142 are official Israeli sources and 56 are from other Israeli organizations. The total of Israeli references is therefore 247 (56+191). However, of the 56 references whose sources are not governmental and are not NIF grantees, 40 oppose appearing on the report as "neutral". Therefore on the report there are 16 references by organizations that are not NIF grantees, but support the report. Those 16 references in addition to the 191 references from NIF grantees comprise 207 references of non-governmental organizations that "support" the report and this is the source for the quote 92% of the references "against the IDF came from NIF organizations amongst the total of Israeli organizations that were quoted in the Goldstone report".

4. New Profile

While the organization is not an NIF grantee, New Profile is mentioned in the report over 10 times in different contexts. Usually as part of a coalition of women for peace, but it is also mentioned on its own.

"An additional layer in the activities of organizations like New Profile and the Coalition of Women for Peace is encouraging conscientious objection and draft-dodging among Israeli youth based partly on the claim that Israel is involved in war crimes" (Page 10).

The reason for this is clear: There is a strong intent to connect NIF to draft dodging and to related illegal activities. The excuse for mentioning this is New Profile being part of the coalition and a quote from the organization's website stating that it has the support of the coalition. (U.A.)